I know a lot of folks for whom the statement, “I am a sinner” would not be at all offensive, and even viewed by some as a laudable admission, but who would find the statement, “I am an asshole” to be extremely offensive.
Frankly, I don’t get it.
I’m With Michael Z.
On the passing scene. . . (the riots, looting, arson, assault, and murder that have gone unchecked by police). Cops who are essentially invoking “The Nuremberg Defense” (“I am just following orders”) and violating their oaths to uphold the law, also pleading safety, whether of their persons or their paychecks disgust me. Seriously. Michael Z. Williamson’s view on cops whose first priority is “going home safe at the end of my shift” applies, IMO:
I don’t want to hear some drunk and confused guy squirming on the ground playing “Simon Says” terrified you so much you had to blow him away. I don’t want to hear that some random guy 35 yards away who you had no actual information on “may have reached toward his waist band. Or that “the tree might fall any moment” or that “the smoke makes it hard to see.”
Near as I can tell, I don’t hear the smokejumpers, or the firefighters, or the disaster rescue people say such things.
But it’s all I ever hear from the cops. If you and your five girlfriends in body armor, with rifles, are that terrified of actually risking your life for the theoretically dangerous job you volunteered for and can quit any time, then please do quit.
You can get a job doing pest control and go home safe every night.
Until a bunch of fucking pussies with big tattoos, small dicks, body armor and guns blow you away for minding your own business.
Because what you’re telling me with that statement is, your only concern is cashing a check. That’s fine. But if that’s your concern, don’t pretend you’re serving the public. If you wanted to help people at risk of life, you would be a firefighter, running into buildings, dragging people out, getting scorched regularly.
If you’re cool with writing tickets, then there’s jobs where you can do just that.
If you want to tangle with bad guys and blow them away, fair enough. But understand: That means they get to shoot first to prove their intent, just as happens with the military these days. Our ROE these days are usually “only if fired upon and no civilians are at risk.”
That about sums it up: sign up o be a “public servant” designating yourself as a “law ENFORCEMENT officer,” then taking a paycheck to sit back and do nothing while watching rioters loot, burn, and kill, no matter WHAT the lame excuse is? Well, bugger on off boyos. You are more useless than “sammich fixins” at a feminazi rally. More at the link.
Just. . . Things
Asking all one of the readers that drop by, nowadays: are there any simple problems with English usage that irk you? As frequent reader (note the construction *heh*) likely recalls, I have a few such bugaboos, like
- bafflingly and wildly inappropriately misused words (infer for imply; poignant for pointed; vested for invested, and worse. Much worse *sigh*)
- compound words either used wrongly or not used where called for (backseat ? back seat; log in ? login; backup ? back up; etc.)
- warped time sense (an inability to recognize and properly use perfect tenses, particularly past perfect and conditional past perfect tenses; stupid misuse of present tense for past events, etc. Also illiterate formations of past tenses for some common words, such as “broadcast.”)
- inability to properly use subjective vs objective pronouns. Also in the running for pronoun misuse: a pseudo hoity-toity misuse of the reflexive pronoun “myself” where “I” is correct (apparently under the impression that using “myself” IMPROPERLY somehow conveys a higher level of literacy. . . while unintentionally revealing subliteracy)
Yes, these are a few of my less favorite things. . . And yes, there are more. Stupid punctuation, laughable misspellings, syntax only a mother could love (and then most likely only from a babbling baby), grammar better associated with a brain-damaged Bonobo chimp, and on and on. . .
“Is she over her head?” written by a writer who did not engage his brain before failing to type “Is she in over her head?” Yeh, another one: mishearing and or misreproducing common expressions, rendering them as nonsense.
Thanks for the Heads Up
Among other mind-boggling abortions of English literacy in a recently-read screed (including apostrophe abuses/neglects, comma splices, inexplicable “grammar” and syntax, & etc.) was this laughable phrase: “vest interest” (instead of “vested interest”) –attached to a comment that also had no basis in fact, of course.
I appreciated the writer going to such great lengths to let me know his opinion was worthless, so that I could forever after avoid his stupidity. Very helpful.
“You Can Always Tell a Delusional Person. . .
. . .but you can almost never tell them anything that will puncture their delusions.” — third world county™
Every time I see “climate change”–or whatever the propaganda term du jour might be–written seriously, I *smh*. CACAs (adherents of the Cult of Anthropogenic Climate Alarmism) are either delusional or outright bald-faced liars, one and all. Point out verifiable facts to such persons and the liars only scream louder while the delusional ones either join them in irrational wails of faux outrage or put their (metaphorical. . . usually) fingers i their ears and chant nonsense.
A Lil “Not-an-Experiment” Quasi-Semi-Sorta Experiment
No protocols for measurement of results, just a combination of procedures from different well-designed-and-conducted (IMO) experiments as presented in several papers downloaded from PubMed, as well as info posted directly on CDC site (no link here; anyone who’d “smarter than a third grader” can find the info for themselves with a simple web search. Not gonna hold hands and be “internet crossing guard” for adults):
Took a used disposable N-95 and (per CDC) subjected it to 170°F temps for 20 minutes (CDC says 165 for 15 mins), after having soaked it in a solution comprised of 75% ethanol, 25% concentrate of a medical-grade disinfectant (compatible with ethanol) that remains after ethanol evaporates.
Stored in disinfected (with above ethanol solution) vacuum sealed bag for use as filtration media–in place of HEPA filtration media-as supplementary filtration in a simple two-layer cloth mask that has the exterior treated with a hydrophobic compound to resist moisture (“droplets” anyone?)
This will be a very slight step down from the HEPA filtration media. . . but is plenty for allergy season. 🙂
N.B. Will also be just fine for wearing into those stores that “can’t” stay open w/o “masked bandits” for customers.
Sense Amid All the Nonsense About COVID-19
Just a couple of observations from my own amateur reading of research papers from PubMed, et al. . .
The severity of illness from a virus depends, to a VERY great extent, on how many viral particles one is exposed to at any one time. A large number of viral particles accumulated over a short period of time usually results in a more severe illness, while a small number of viral particles accumulated over a long period of time usually results in a much less severe illness, often with few or no symptoms expressed at all, with an immune system then able to ward off future infections by that virus.
This is why lowering viral load and spreading that lower viral load out over time is a more sensible strategy than foolishly attempting absolute prevention of infection by a virus (which is impossible unless one LIVES in a Level 4 biohazard lab, with absolutely NO infectious agents present–even in yourself).
Well, THAT Is Certainly NOT Right
Reading a novel. Ran across (sub-sub-sub-plot) “I need to earn her love.”
Whatever comes of the effort, it wouldn’t be a “love” that endures. A love that endures embodies the Rogerian translation of agape: unconditional positive regard. It’s the “unconditional” that is most important. Now, that unconditional positive regard may not result in the actions the one so loved desires, if their actions are negative, because actions have consequences, and love is sometimes tough. Lovingly tough.
Not that, “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” but “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.”
Attempting to earn the love of another, and thinking that being worthy of their love is a prerequisite can result in a relationship built on sand. As I remind my own Wonder Woman: it’s not my fault she loves me (since I could never really be worthy of her love but only attempt to demonstrate my own and my appreciation for hers). *heh*
Pluses/Minuses
New Kindle Paperwhite.
Pluses:
The display is excellent. Perfect, IMO, for reading (and since that’s much more than 99% of what I use a Kindle for, just about perfect for my purposes).
The size is very good. Easily held one-handed for long periods of time.
Does indeed appear to last longer per charge.
Waterproof (well, water resistant).
In the 32-gig version, much more room for books than my other Kindles.
Minuses:
Navigating to my library of books sucks a bit. Much less straightforward than any of my other Kindles.
No auto-orientation. Not a really big deal, but it is a minor inconvenience.
I have yet to get it to sync up properly, and navigating to :last page read” in other registered devices has yet to work.
Just navigating to a different page or location in a book is clumsy.
All-in-all, the pluses far outweigh the minuses for me. The negatives are themselves only minor irritations, and are few. The positives are all things I was looking for.
Good Signs? Well, Good Fun, At Least
Latest 40 min “exercise bout” (yard work: tossing logs, feeding chipper, hauling and spreading bagged mulch) today in 101°F “heat index” ? 119/69 BP; 109 pulse. I’d like to reach closer to mid-upper target on pulse, but given the weather, I’m OK with it where it is for now. Combined with the two sessions pushing a mower, etc., earlier today, I may sleep well tonight. *heh*
Neat thing about the chipper is that if it doesn’t require major maintenance before the cleanup is finished, it’ll just about pay for itself in mulch! ? So, far, I’ve chipped/shredded only about 1/10 of the material I have to deal with, and it’s already produced enough mulch to equal about 1/6 of the cost of the chipper. Between that and the exercise–especially for hands, forearms, and back feeding the thing the larger limbs it will take–and “massage” benefit (holding onto the 1.5”-3” diameter limbs one of the feed chutes takes is NOT easy–a whole lotta shakin’ goin’ on! ?), I’m really enjoying the chipper. And then there’s all the mulch! Love that stuff!
Enjoyed “building” a different compost pile, the other day. Some 3/8” rebar (4 – 4′ lengths) driven into the ground to hold some 6.5′ long logs in place. Dumping mostly grass clippings between that and the garage’s concrete block foundation. The ends are stacked tires–also filled with organic matter for composting. Some “drunk composting” mix sprayed on top and a lil dirt added, and it’ll be good for next year’s gardening. Just add a wee bit of dirt on top come fall, mulch on top of that.
No gardening this summer. Too much wood waste, etc., to deal with. *shrugs* ‘S’all right. Different. Gonna miss my peppers, though.